


The Gusephant in the Room

by brinnanza



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Meddling, Multi, Pining, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships, juliet o'hara has the single brain cell and by god she is going to use it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:46:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26334337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinnanza/pseuds/brinnanza
Summary: Juliet knows two things pretty much immediately:1. She and Shawn are going to have to talk about The Gus Thing at some point.2. Shawn would rather die than have an honest conversation about his feelings.She’s fully prepared to bully him into it the same way she’d bullied him into having the “what are we” talk when they got back from Canada, but a couple weeks after Shawn lies about going to Scare Fest with Gus, she decides it might be easier to preempt The Talk by putting her cards on the table.
Relationships: Burton "Gus" Guster/Juliet O'Hara/Shawn Spencer, Burton "Gus" Guster/Shawn Spencer, Juliet O'Hara/Shawn Spencer
Comments: 9
Kudos: 118





	The Gusephant in the Room

**Author's Note:**

> what's up I'm back again with more psych fic, this time fully ot3 because I gotta do everything myself I guess smh anyway. this takes place a few weeks after 5x11 in plain fright but does not actually take into account anything that happens after that episode. the shawn/jules is established and the shawn/gus is queerplatonic. there's a couple of references to sex but nothing terribly explicit.

Juliet knows two things pretty much immediately:

1\. She and Shawn are going to have to talk about The Gus Thing at some point.

2\. Shawn would rather die than have an honest conversation about his feelings.

She’s fully prepared to bully him into it the same way she’d bullied him into having the “what are we” talk when they got back from Canada, but a couple weeks after Shawn lies about going to Scare Fest with Gus, she decides it might be easier to preempt The Talk by putting her cards on the table. 

Honestly, she’ll do almost anything to get Gus to stop making that kicked puppy expression when he thinks she isn’t looking. Shawn’s tunnel vision is astounding, but Gus really has nothing to worry about.

She makes a night of it, dinner, wine, candles. They watch a movie, some silly action flick Shawn knows backwards and forwards so when she starts sliding her hand up his thigh, his attention is easily turned and he follows her to the bedroom. The sex is fantastic, as it usually is considering she’s dating a psychic, but she pays attention to all the little spots that really get him going, draws it out until he’s gone boneless and drowsing. He’s curled around her back, sweat cooling on their skin, when she says, “I think we should talk about Gus.”

“What about him?” Shawn mumbles into her hair. He’s still pretty out of it - Shawn may be psychic but Juliet _is_ a detective - and if she leaves it any longer, he’ll fall asleep.

“Do you remember the Scare Fest case?” she asks, voice deliberately casual. “How I got us tickets before I knew you were gonna go with Gus?”

There’s a long pause, and then Shawn shifts on the bed behind her. “I’m really sorry about that,” he says, sounding much more awake now. “I tried to get out of it, and Gus started _crying_. I swear he’s learned to weaponize his tear ducts.”

“I’m not upset you went with Gus,” Juliet says, rolling over so she’s facing Shawn. And yes, maybe she had wanted to see it through his nostalgic eyes, but she could have done it just as well again the next evening or even the next week. Besides, he’d managed to uncover a conspiracy and solve a double murder, so she can’t be too mad at him. “I was upset you lied to me about it, even after I said I could find something else for us to do.”

“I wanted to go with you!” Shawn protests, and she has no doubts that that’s true. “I really did. And okay, maybe I should have told you I was going with Gus before I went, but I didn’t want you to be disappointed. I know you were looking forward to it.”

“I was looking forward to _spending time with you_ ,” Juliet says. “It didn’t have to be Scare Fest. It doesn’t have to be anything, especially if it’s something you’re already doing with Gus.”

Shawn frowns, a little furrow in his brow. “But I do everything with Gus.”

“I know; that’s exactly my point,” Juliet says. “I want you to know that I’m not trying to replace Gus. What you two have is special, and I don’t want to mess that up.”

“Hey, no, Jules,” Shawn says, gathering her up in his arms. He presses a kiss to her temple. “I’m with you, sweetheart. I want to be with you. Gus’ll get over his caramel binge; he always does. He’ll adjust.” 

“Maybe he doesn’t have to.” Shawn levers himself up on one elbow so he can stare down at her, his brow wrinkle deepening dramatically. “Look,” Juliet explains, “when I said I wanted us to be exclusive, I meant I didn’t want you dating other women. I didn’t mean you had to break up with Gus.”

Shawn’s eyebrows unknit and climb rapidly towards his hairline. He opens and closes his mouth a few times - Juliet’s actually managed to render him speechless, which she hadn’t thought was possible. Eventually he stammers, “Break -- break up -- _Gus_? That’s cr-- We’re not -- It’s not like that, Jules.” 

Juliet wonders vaguely if Shawn had denied it to Abigail too or if she just hadn’t asked, but then she decides she doesn’t actually want to think about Shawn’s ex-girlfriends. “It’s okay, Shawn,” she says soothingly, reaching up to cup his face in one hand. “I always knew I’d have to share you. You don’t have to hide it from me or sneak around.”

 _Sneak around_ , Shawn mouths, and okay the feigned shock is a little bit hurtful; Juliet’s not an idiot. “Jules, what is it you think Gus and I have been doing together?”

Juliet shrugs, and her face goes a bit warm. “I don’t know,” she demurs. “Whatever it is that guys usually get up to together.”

“Watching cartoons and eating cereal?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, Jules, I really don’t.” 

Juliet rolls her eyes; there’s no reason to be obtuse. “I’m talking about sex Shawn.”

Shawn does another impression of a goldfish, rendered speechless for the second time. “I’m -- we’re -- you think I’m _sleeping with Gus_?”

Juliet blinks at him. “Weren’t you?”

“No?” Shawn says, voice pitching upward. “We don’t -- no!” There’s something a little desperate in his eyes, like he’s hoping she won’t call him on it.

“You’ve never slept with Gus?” She’d just assumed… Shawn’s an incorrigible flirt, and Juliet knows he’s bisexual. She doesn’t know about Gus, but she’s always had her suspicions; she knows well enough what the closet looks like from the inside.

“Slept beside, yeah,” Shawn says. “We had a lot of sleepovers when we were kids, to say nothing of last week. But we never -- He’s my best friend, Jules, not my boyfriend.”

Everyone who’s ever met them has assumed they’re together, at least at first - they’re more in tune with each other than most married couples. “Surely you’ve kissed though?”

Shawn colors. “I mean, when we were kids, maybe. Y’know, just dumb kid stuff like spin the bottle or to practice or whatever. Gus likes women.” 

“He also likes you,” she says, because that isn’t really the point. She knows how Shawn and Gus look at each other, like there’s no one else in the room. “Look, I’m not accusing you of some secret affair or anything. I’m just saying that I know how important Gus is to you, and I support your relationship in whatever form it might take.”

“You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?” Juliet opens her mouth to respond yes, of course she has, because she has eyes, but he cuts her off with a delighted laugh. “You filthy little minx, how long have you been fantasizing about a chocolate and vanilla twist?”

If Juliet’s honest, since about five minutes after seeing the two of them together, but that too is beside the point (not to mention the admission would surely make Shawn even more insufferable than usual). “This isn’t about me,” Juliet says, because she can recognize Shawn’s patented joke dodge from a mile off. “This is about you not having to change or end your relationship with Gus - whatever kind of relationship that is - just because we’re dating.”

A series of emotions flicker over Shawn’s face. Juliet expects him to land on another joke, to brush her off and change the subject. She’s made her position clear; all she can do now is hope Shawn takes it to heart. 

To her surprise, though, Shawn exhales and lies back down beside her. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about it,” he says, voice soft as the sunlight through the window fades with the setting sun. “I’ve known Gus my whole life. He’s the only -- We’ve been through a lot together. It’s not exactly a secret that I bat for both teams, but Gus isn’t like me. He’ll find his dream girl. She’ll probably be just as crazy as he is, but as much as we talk about a pool that crosses both our yards, he’s gonna have to choose between her and me someday. And he’s not gonna choose me.”

“I think you might be surprised,” Juliet says. “Gus loves you.”

Shawn just shrugs. “It’s not the same.”

Juliet’s not so sure.

\---

She really does intend to let it lie. Whatever Shawn and Gus have with each other, it’s none of her business, and she has to trust that Shawn believes her. Except Gus is still sneaking caramel when Shawn’s not looking and Juliet still has to triple check with Shawn when she makes plans with him to make sure he’s not skipping out on Gus, which he definitely still is. Maybe it’s overstepping to meddle, but that doesn’t prevent her from stopping by the Psych office when she knows Shawn isn’t there.

She raps on the wall in the entryway, and Gus looks up from his laptop. “Hey, Juliet,” he says. “Shawn’s not here; I’m just doing some paperwork. I think Henry replaced the phone he lost last week, so you should be able to call him.”

“I’m actually here to see you,” she says. “Do you mind if we talk?”

He gives her a wary look, but he nods and closes the lid of his computer. He gestures to Shawn’s chair across the room, and she sits, wheeling herself around Shawn’s desk and beside Gus’s. “If this is about a case…”

Juliet shakes her head, putting up her hands. “No, I just wanted to clear the air between us. Set a few things straight.”

Gus’s eyebrows furrow even deeper. “Uh, okay,” he says. “Such as…?”

She pauses to consider her words. She’d thought a lot about what to say on the way over here, but she doesn’t want to scare Gus off before she can say the whole thing. “So Shawn and I have been together for a little while now,” she starts. “And you’re the most important person in his life. I’ve known for years that being with him would never really be entirely exclusive.”

“Juliet…” Gus says, starting to get up.

“Just, let me finish, Gus, okay?” Gus nods and sits back down, and Juliet draws in a deep breath. “I won’t pretend I’m not sometimes jealous of what the two of you have, but I don’t begrudge you for it. So… whatever happens with me and Shawn, now or down the line, I don’t want it to affect what happens between you two.”

“Uh… thank you?” Gus says cautiously, a confused expression wrinkling his forehead. “But I don’t think you have to worry. Shawn and I are good.”

“I know,” Juliet says. “But after the whole Scare Fest thing… I just want to make sure you know that I’m not trying to replace you in Shawn’s life. It’s not an either/or.”

Gus just shrugs. “He’s been after you for like five years. Of course he’d pick you.”

“He’d want to choose me,” Juliet says, and she knows this, as well as she knows anything about Shawn Spencer because he has already chosen a hundred separate tiny times. “He’d think he _should_ choose me, but right now? Gus, if someone made him choose between the two of us, he’d pick you in a heartbeat.”

“That’s not--” Gus starts, but Juliet cuts him off.

“And maybe, in the future, somewhere down the line… maybe that might change. I honestly don’t know. But I don’t think I want to find out. Not because he might not choose me, but because I don’t think he should have to choose at all.”

“What are you saying, Juliet?” Gus says, his expression carefully neutral.

She gives him a wry smile, and says the part she’s been building up to. “I’m saying Shawn has two hands, Gus, and one of them will always be yours.”

Gus shakes his head and leans back in his chair, unconsciously moving away from her. “It’s not like that,” he says. “Shawn and me. I mean, he’s my boy, always will be, but it’s not like it is with you two.”

“Are you sure?” Juliet says. “Because Shawn said you’d never… But it’s not that simple, is it? Believe me, Gus, I know what it looks like to be a little bit in love with Shawn Spencer. I’ve been seeing it in the mirror for the past five years.”

“I’m not in love with Shawn,” Gus says.

It would be pretty convincing to anyone else, but Juliet is a detective, and a damn good one. Gus just isn’t that good of an actor. His eyes flick away from hers as he says it, and even though he’s trying to adopt a relaxed, nonchalant posture, she can see the tension in his shoulders. He’s lying, Juliet knows, and what’s more, he _knows_ he’s lying. She’s not sure how long he’s been keeping it a secret from Shawn - his whole life or just the last few years - but if there’s a way to get them all on the same page, Juliet will be damned before she lets it slip away.

Calling Gus’s bluff will only scare him off, though, so Juliet says, “Even so. I don’t want to get in the way of your friendship.”

“Well… I appreciate that,” he says, and he seems genuinely at a loss for words. “Thank you. You know you’re… you’re good for him, Jules. I hope he’s good for you too.”

She smiles, a soft, warm thing that slides onto her mouth by increments. “You know, I think he is.”

\--

Juliet really does let it lie this time. For a few weeks, anyway. Long enough to convince both Shawn and Gus that she’s given the whole thing up and left them to their own dysfunctional devices. She’s pretty sure Gus is the linchpin anyway; if she can get him to admit his feelings, Shawn will follow after. Through a joke or some sort of meandering ramble, sure, but he’ll get there in the end.

She waits for the right opportunity, which winds up being a quiet night in at Juliet’s apartment. It’s the third evening in a row they’ve spent together, mostly just watching TV and making out, coming down from solving a triple homicide. Shawn’s mature and reasonable boyfriend facade (which he still insists on wearing when they’re together regardless of the fact that Juliet knows perfectly well what he’s like) is starting to wear a little thin, and Juliet has noticed Gus looking a little frownier than usual around the police station, so she knows it’s been a while since they’ve hung out together. 

Shawn is texting Gus and trying to be sneaky about it by hiding the phone behind the arm of the couch. Half or less of his attention is on the movie they’re watching, so Juliet says, “Why don’t you just ask Gus to come over?”

Shawn immediately shoves his phone into his pocket. “This is you time,” he says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in. He presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll see Gus tomorrow.”

“At work, where I will also be,” Juliet points out. “Look, I know it’s been a little while since you’ve had a chance to hang out with Gus because you’ve been here every night since we wrapped up the Hitchinson case. I don’t mind, Shawn, really.”

Juliet doesn’t miss the way Shawn’s fingers twitch toward his phone. “It’s fine, Jules,” he says. “Gus will understand.”

Juliet reaches up to lace her fingers with Shawn’s. “I just think maybe the three of us should spend a little non-work time together.”

Shawn turns to peer at her, his full attention on her like he’s trying to read her mind. And maybe he is -- she’s seen him predict her next words a hundred times. “Juliet O’Hara, are you seriously angling for a threesome right now?”

Then again, maybe not. “Of course not,” Juliet says, though she’s far from opposed to the idea in theory. She turns so she’s facing Shawn on the couch, slipping out from under his arm. “But he’s your best friend, Shawn; the people that are important to you are important to me too.”

Shawn does not seem especially mollified, but he pulls out his phone again. “Fine,” he says, thumbs flying over the keyboard. “Fine, I will invite Gus over and you can see for yourself that whatever you think is going on between us _isn’t._ ” Text sent, he flings his phone onto the far side of the couch and snatches a throw pillow to clutch against his chest.

Getting a word in edgewise with Shawn is always a battle, but his constant, vaguely manic chatter alongside the television as they wait for Gus is even more impenetrable than usual. It takes Gus a good fifteen minutes, during which Shawn barely pauses for breath. 

The babble cuts off abruptly when Juliet’s front door slams open, and Gus barrels in yelling, “Shawn? Shawn, where are you?!” His voice is too fast, a bit too loud. He sounds... scared. Juliet braces herself.

Gus skids to a stop in front of the sofa, visibly out of breath, and stares at Shawn and Juliet. The disbelief quickly morphs into a glare he aims at Shawn. “Why is no one dead, Shawn?” he demands. “You said it was an _emergency_! You said life or death, Shawn!”

Juliet gives Shawn a look, and Shawn just shrugs, unapologetic. “Alright, I may have slightly overstated. Must have misplaced a decimal point somewhere. It’s definitely life or little death?”

“Shawn!”

“Calm down Gus; you weren’t doing anything anyway.”

“I could have been! I could have been well on my way to my own ‘little death’ and now I’m here, where there is clearly no emergency.”

Shawn scoffs. “Please. If you had a date, I would know about it.”

“No you wouldn’t, Shawn!”

“Guys!” Juliet cuts in. They’ll go all night if she lets them, or at least until Gus stomps out in a huff, Shawn at his heels. “I’m sorry that you came over under false pretenses, Gus; I just thought it might be nice for the three of us to spend some time together.”

Gus presses his lips together. Shawn is the psychic, but the look Gus gives her, like he knows exactly what she’s trying to do, has her second guessing. He trades a look with Shawn followed by a very hurried, whispered conversation that Juliet can’t make out more than a few words of. 

“Sorry,” Gus says, turning abruptly away from Shawn mid-whisper. “I can’t stay.”

“Gus!” Shawn whines, betrayed.

“No, Shawn! I only came because you said it was an emergency! Whatever this is--” he makes a vague gesture at the two of them on the couch, “--sort it out yourself. Goodbye, Shawn. Juliet.” He gives Juliet a curt nod and then turns for the door.

Before Juliet can get a word out, Shawn is scrambling up off the couch to catch Gus’s arm before he can leave. “Look, I’m sorry I lied,” he says, grasping Gus’s wrist firmly in one hand with no visible indication that he plans to let go any time soon. “I knew you wouldn’t come if I told you the truth. Can you please just tell Juliet you’re only interested in women so she’ll stop trying to set us up together?”

Gus is silent just a beat too long, and Shawn drops his wrist. “Uh, you are, right, buddy?” Shawn says. “Because this is kind of a big secret to keep from your best friend who’s known you your whole life and knows everything about you.”

Juliet doesn’t move from her perch on the couch. It’s like the two of them have forgotten she’s even here, too wrapped up in each other, as usual.

Gus lifts his chin defiantly. “You don’t know everything about me, Shawn.”

“Are you serious right now?” Shawn demands. “Is this seriously how you’re choosing to come out to me, _me_ , your very best friend in the entire world?”

“I don’t know, okay, Shawn!” Gus shouts. “I don’t know! It’s different with you! Everything’s always different with you!”

“Are you _attracted_ to me?” Shawn says, and there is something a bit unkind in his voice. “Because believe me buddy, if I’d known that was on the table…”

“No, I’m not _attracted_ to you, I just--”

“Do you want to have sex with me?”

“What? No, of course not! I’ve seen you naked, Shawn; I am _not_ interested.” Gus pauses, and then he asks, “...Do you want to have sex with me?”

Shawn hesitates like he’s genuinely considering it. “No?” he says finally. “I mean I have _eyes_ , so if you had an identical twin who looked exactly like you but wasn’t my best friend, then I would be down to clown on that for sure, but you’re… _you_. That would be _weird_.”

“So weird!” Gus agrees.

“See, Jules?” Shawn says, turning back toward the couch where Juliet has been watching them bicker. “I told you; it’s not like that with me and Gus.”

“It’s not _not_ like that though, is it?” Juliet says, meeting Shawn’s eyes evenly. There is something still a little wild in them, desperate, and he only holds her gaze for a moment before looking away. “It’s not about sex, but it’s not just friends.”

“Jules,” Shawn starts. Juliet opens her mouth to cut him off, but Gus beats her to it.

“Maybe she’s not wrong, Shawn,” Gus says with a wry little smile. “It’s always been different with you. And maybe it’s not, y’know, rose petals and candles like it is with Juliet, but it’s something. I mean, I had to stop telling you about my girlfriends because you kept sabotaging my dates.”

“Because you have terrible taste in women,” Shawn says defensively.

“Men too, apparently.” Gus lets out a sigh. “Look, I know I said I wasn’t upset about you and Juliet, but she’s the first girl you’ve ever been _really_ serious about, and no, your sixth grade proposal to Mandy Willkins doesn’t count. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to lose that, but I want you to be happy, even if that means it’s not just you and me anymore.” 

“Yeah, well, I want you to be happy too,” Shawn says. It’s petulant, but that’s as much a defense mechanism as the jokes. “Some day you’re gonna find a girl who’s definitely still crazy, but in a way that works so well with your crazy that I won’t be able to mess it up. You won’t need me anymore.”

Gus sucks his teeth. “Man, of course I’ll still need you! You’re the one that doesn’t need me now that you’ve got Juliet!”

“Just because I’m seeing Juliet doesn’t mean I never wanna see you!” Shawn says. “Come on, son! You’re my _boy_.”

It’s tempting to let this play out, but there’s a strong possibility it will devolve into nonsense. Also, Juliet’s been holding her tongue for what seems like hours, and now that they’ve both finally landed on the same page, she can’t resist gloating a little. “You’re both idiots.”

Shawn and Gus suck their teeth in unison and turn toward her. “Man!”

“We’re having a heart to heart here, Jules, come on,” Shawn whines.

“Yeah,” says Juliet, “I know. And the reason you’re having it in my apartment is that you’re both idiots.”

“Ah,” says Shawn as he realizes. “This is--” He makes a little motion with his finger.

“Exactly what I was talking about, yes,” Juliet says. Her expression softens, and she levers herself up off of the couch to stand beside them. “The point is, _you don’t have to choose_. If this is something you both want -- and I know it is -- then we’ll make it work. Okay?”

Shawn and Gus are gazing at each other with the sort of undisguised soppiness they usually reserve for when they think they’re alone or when they’ve both had way too much to drink. Shawn’s smile crinkles at the corner of his eyes, and Gus is tearing up a little. She’s not sure which one of them moves first, but they tug each other into a firm embrace.

Gus wipes his eyes when they pull back from each other again, and Shawn turns a blinding smile on Juliet. “Okay,” he says, reaching out to pull her into an embrace. The three of them stand there, arms around each other, and Juliet thinks maybe this is the happiest she’s ever been.

Shawn leans over and kisses her cheek. “God, Jules, you’re amazing, you know that?”

Juliet shrugs. “Yeah, I know,” she says, but her face goes a bit warm at the compliment. “You should stay,” she says to Gus, tightening the arm she’s got around him just a bit. “Watch a movie or something with us.”

Gus’s mouth twists like he’s thinking of declining, and Shawn knocks him playfully on the chin. “Come on, man, stay.”

“...You got any red vines?” Gus says.

Juliet ducks out of their loose embrace and kneels down by the couch to fish out the package of red vines she’d stashed underneath it for exactly this. “Like we could watch a movie without ‘em,” she says, tossing them to Gus. 

He catches them and grins at her. “You know that’s right.”


End file.
